Alma 5:10-23
5:10-14 - Alma continues by his sermon by launching into a series of questions, I was going to go into some elaborate explanation about Alma's use of questions and answers as an effective teaching method but I honestly can't come up with right now. It's interesting to me that he goes into so many questions, such a stark contrast to Nephi who was really big into lecture and imagery. Looking at it, the questions posed by Alma made an excellent point but were not confrontational at all. I didn't really understand going from "on what conditions are they saved?" to "did not my father Alma believe in the words which were delivered by the mouth of Abinadi?" He goes on to teach that his father had "a mighty change wrought in his heart," as well as all of their fathers who believed when he taught. I can see it in that light, Alma asks "on what condition are we saved?" And the answer is "on condition that we receive the mighty change of heart. When we keep the commandments because we're supposed to, our intentions, our desires, and our thoughts are not with God because actions come after thoughts. The IM quotes President Ezra Taft Benson as teaching "when you choose to follow Christ, you choose to be changed... The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature... Yes, Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world. Men changed for Christ will be captained by Christ. Like Paul they will be asking 'Lord, what wilt thou have me do?' Peter stated, the will 'follow his steps.' John said they will 'walk, even as he walked.' Finally, men captained by Christ will be consumed in Christ." I hadn't realized how all consuming being converted to Christ would be, but really in essence, as Alma asks "have ye received his image in your countenances?" If we are truly to be one with God, then every thought, every action, every word, will be dictated by his will. And it's not just that we give up "our" lives for him, but he gave up his life for us, and gives us new life. We are given peace, happiness, love, contentment and very often we are prospered exceedingly as part of his blessings upon us. We talked a little bit about being spiritually born of God last week, but on the topic of receiving "him image in your countenance," the IM quotes President James E. Faust as telling the story of the BYU Jerusalem center land's lease being signed. In order to secure the lease, President Benson, and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, the president of BYU, "agreed with the Israeli government on behalf of the church and university not to proselyte in Israel." But after the lease was signed, and even though the Church and BYU have strictly adhered to their agreement, a friend asked them "oh, we know that you are not going to proselyte, but what are you going to do about the light that is in their eyes?' He was referring to our students who were studying in Israel." I've heard it said many times, that church members have a light, an energy, and I would hope that that's true, as it attracts others and will hopefully motivate them to desire the same for themselves.
5:15-18 - Alma continues, in an interesting turn, going from the mighty change of heart into the day of judgment. In verses 15 and 16 it seems like he's almost excited for the judgment day. Just the way that the words are phrased "Do you look forward to the resurrection, when you will 'stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?'" And then when that day comes, there can only be two outcomes, one that we are clean and welcomed by the Lord, and the other that we are filthy and cast off, and Alma leads with the first. It's very motivational, actually "can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth." So judgment day is coming and can you just imagine the Lord being pleased with the life that you have lived? Or "do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie until the Lord in that day?" In an April 2000 general conference talk entitled "Content with the Things Allotted unto Us," Elder Neal A. Maxwell teaches "the justice and mercy of God will have been so demonstrably perfect that at the Final Judgment there will be no complaints, including from those who once questioned what God had allotted in the mortal framework... The Lord knows our circumstances and the intents of our hearts, and surely the talents and gifts He has given us. He is able to gauge perfectly how we have performed within what is allotted to us." There will not be some extensive obstacle course that we were supposed to have run, I used to think that there would be some monumental feat that I would have had to accomplish in order to be saved at judgment, but that's not the case at all. God is just but all knowing and all seeing and importantly, so so so very merciful and he loves us so much and truly desires our success. That's why every time I fight against him, it's really so wasteful, because I know that nothing I choose for myself will ever be better than what he wants for me. So Alma goes from "aren't you excited for God to welcome you home," to "but you can't lie to God," to, now, "can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with Guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?" I think most of the people listening to this, and really anyone who can believe that there is a God, recognizes that God would be all knowing, so it's pretty logical that coming to be judged of God, there would be no hiding past deeds, and the idea of being put on display in front of all mighty God is pretty eye opening.
5:19-23 - Alma's simply states, by posing questions, that the only way to stand blameless before God at the day of judgment "for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins." The IM quotes Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen as teaching "it is through His atoning sacrifice that our garments will be cleansed. The scriptural reference to garments encompasses our while being. The need for cleansing comes as we become soiled through sin. The judgment and forgiving are the Savior's prerogative, for only He can forgive and wash away our sins." One thought that I might add here is that, perhaps we do become soiled through sin, but it would seem that we also become soiled through heart ache, pain, suffering, and despair. We need the atonement in order to heal from that as well. It's an interesting concept for me the metaphor of washing clothes in blood in order to make them pure white. I'm sure anyone that has done laundry before, especially if you've had to wash them by hand, knows that you don't put dirty clothes into dirty water and have them come out clean, let alone blood, which is some of the hardest stains to get out. It's counterintuitive to soak anything in blood until it become pure white, so I don't really understand the metaphor here. Maybe it's because washing clothes in blood and having them come out clean and white would be a miracle, just like the atonement is a miracle. We wouldn't be able to completely understand how the clothes got cleaned, just like, in this life, we are unable to completely understand how the atonement works. Just a thought, but I'm not confident that the metaphor works for this reason.
5:15-18 - Alma continues, in an interesting turn, going from the mighty change of heart into the day of judgment. In verses 15 and 16 it seems like he's almost excited for the judgment day. Just the way that the words are phrased "Do you look forward to the resurrection, when you will 'stand before God to be judged according to the deeds which have been done in the mortal body?'" And then when that day comes, there can only be two outcomes, one that we are clean and welcomed by the Lord, and the other that we are filthy and cast off, and Alma leads with the first. It's very motivational, actually "can you imagine to yourselves that ye hear the voice of the Lord, saying unto you, in that day: Come unto me ye blessed, for behold, your works have been the works of righteousness upon the face of the earth." So judgment day is coming and can you just imagine the Lord being pleased with the life that you have lived? Or "do ye imagine to yourselves that ye can lie until the Lord in that day?" In an April 2000 general conference talk entitled "Content with the Things Allotted unto Us," Elder Neal A. Maxwell teaches "the justice and mercy of God will have been so demonstrably perfect that at the Final Judgment there will be no complaints, including from those who once questioned what God had allotted in the mortal framework... The Lord knows our circumstances and the intents of our hearts, and surely the talents and gifts He has given us. He is able to gauge perfectly how we have performed within what is allotted to us." There will not be some extensive obstacle course that we were supposed to have run, I used to think that there would be some monumental feat that I would have had to accomplish in order to be saved at judgment, but that's not the case at all. God is just but all knowing and all seeing and importantly, so so so very merciful and he loves us so much and truly desires our success. That's why every time I fight against him, it's really so wasteful, because I know that nothing I choose for myself will ever be better than what he wants for me. So Alma goes from "aren't you excited for God to welcome you home," to "but you can't lie to God," to, now, "can ye imagine yourselves brought before the tribunal of God with your souls filled with Guilt and remorse, having a remembrance of all your guilt, yea, a perfect remembrance of all your wickedness, yea, a remembrance that ye have set at defiance the commandments of God?" I think most of the people listening to this, and really anyone who can believe that there is a God, recognizes that God would be all knowing, so it's pretty logical that coming to be judged of God, there would be no hiding past deeds, and the idea of being put on display in front of all mighty God is pretty eye opening.
5:19-23 - Alma's simply states, by posing questions, that the only way to stand blameless before God at the day of judgment "for there can no man be saved except his garments are washed white; yea, his garments must be purified until they are cleansed from all stain, through the blood of him of whom it has been spoken by our fathers, who should come to redeem his people from their sins." The IM quotes Elder Lynn A. Mickelsen as teaching "it is through His atoning sacrifice that our garments will be cleansed. The scriptural reference to garments encompasses our while being. The need for cleansing comes as we become soiled through sin. The judgment and forgiving are the Savior's prerogative, for only He can forgive and wash away our sins." One thought that I might add here is that, perhaps we do become soiled through sin, but it would seem that we also become soiled through heart ache, pain, suffering, and despair. We need the atonement in order to heal from that as well. It's an interesting concept for me the metaphor of washing clothes in blood in order to make them pure white. I'm sure anyone that has done laundry before, especially if you've had to wash them by hand, knows that you don't put dirty clothes into dirty water and have them come out clean, let alone blood, which is some of the hardest stains to get out. It's counterintuitive to soak anything in blood until it become pure white, so I don't really understand the metaphor here. Maybe it's because washing clothes in blood and having them come out clean and white would be a miracle, just like the atonement is a miracle. We wouldn't be able to completely understand how the clothes got cleaned, just like, in this life, we are unable to completely understand how the atonement works. Just a thought, but I'm not confident that the metaphor works for this reason.
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